Walter and Roberta Weideman had the perfect retirement dream. After living
in Northern California for many years, they bought a beautiful 14-acre
property on the west side of Paso Robles in 2000.

There they built their dream home — a Palladian-style
villa, designed by Walter himself--and planted a new cabernet grape
vineyard with their own hands. They even built a small winery on the
property that would handle about eight barrels of wine. And then, 10
weeks after their first harvest, Walter suddenly and unexpectedly passed
away while Roberta was traveling in Europe with their son.

Rather than sell the property, and move on to a less difficult,
more simple life, Roberta did just the opposite. She completed the guest
house on the property and turned it into a Vacation Rental. She planted
more grape vines, on her hands and knees in the vineyards for weeks, and
she started making her own wines.

That was five years ago. Today, Roberta runs the
elegant B&B by herself,
doing everything from serving breakfast to changing sheets, and she manages
her eight-acre vineyard with the love and care a mother would give her
child.

And her wines show it. Her cabernet sauvignon recently
won gold medals at the 2009 Los Angeles Commercial Wine Competition
and at the Central Coast Wine Competition. At last year’s California
State Fair, Bella Collina won two gold medals, earning 94 points each,
and the year before, her viognier won Best White Wine at the 2007 California
Mid-State Fair. In fact, Roberta has a wall in her bedroom filled with
dozens of ribbons and awards that her wines have won just in the few
short years since releasing her first 2004 vintage.

Roberta’s winemaker, Ryan Horn, knows why they have been so successful. “Making
good wine with fruit like hers is easy,” Horn says. “I’m
a good winemaker, but I don’t have to do much when it comes to Roberta’s
fruit.”

Horn, who owns the Vinter’s Vault, a full-service supplier of winemaking
supplies and equipment, also has a custom-crush operation at his facility
on Riverside Road in Paso Robles. Horn, the former assistant winemaker
for Justin Vineyards & Winery, makes wines for several small vineyard
owners such as Roberta, often teaching them winemaking skills so they
can eventually produce wines on their own.

“I’m totally happy turning the winemaking over to them,” Roberta
says of Horn, and his assistants Aaron Meidam and Lee Alegre. “Without
them I wouldn’t be producing this amazing wine, and I’m fully
aware of that.” But she doesn’t just turn over the grapes
and leave. She is actively involved in the winemaking process, referring
to the fruit as “her babies.”

“I’m going to do the punch down this year,” Roberta
says. “I like to talk to them and encourage them.”

She also sells her fruit to other area winemakers,
including Horn and veteran winemaker Ken Volk, among others. Her tempranillo — a difficult
varietal to find in this area — is commanding top dollar this year. “It’s
because of the awards that I’ve won, I think,” she explains.

“And they also know that I’m really
involved with my little babies.”

As if tending the vineyard and making 600 cases
of wine wasn’t
time-consuming enough for the 68-year old dynamo, her two-bedroom B&B
is booked at least two weekends a month, providing a nice $275-a-night
income for the vineyard’s ongoing expenses.

While she has been selling her wine mostly through
word of mouth and to guests who stay in her Vacation Rental, she now
is exploring other ways to sell her increasing production. “That’s
my next challenge, finding the way to market it right.”

In the meantime, she continues to enjoy life at
Bella Collina — which
means “beautiful hill” in Italian —and shows no signs
of slowing down.